When you have led your pupil so far (and it will be your own fault if you fail to do so), beware of taking him too readily at his word, lest your rule should seem too strict to him, and lest he should think he has a right to escape from it, by accusing you of taking him by surprise.  This is the time for reserve and seriousness; and this attitude will have all the more effect upon him seeing that it is the first time you have adopted it towards him.

You will say to him therefore:  “Young man, you readily make promises which are hard to keep; you must understand what they mean before you have a right to make them; you do not know how your fellows are drawn by their passions into the whirlpool of vice masquerading as pleasure.  You are honourable, I know; you will never break your word, but how often will you repent of having given it?  How often will you curse your friend, when, in order to guard you from the ills which threaten you, he finds himself compelled to do violence to your heart.  Like Ulysses who, hearing the song of the Sirens, cried aloud to his rowers to unbind him, you will break your chains at the call of pleasure; you will importune me with your lamentations, you will reproach me as a tyrant when I have your welfare most at heart; when I am trying to make you happy, I shall incur your hatred.  Oh, Emile, I can never bear to be hateful in your eyes; this is too heavy a price to pay even for your happiness.  My dear young man, do you not see that when you undertake to obey me, you compel me to promise to be your guide, to forget myself in my devotion to you, to refuse to listen to your murmurs and complaints, to wage unceasing war against your wishes and my own.  Before we either of us undertake such a task, let us count our resources; take your time, give me time to consider, and be sure that the slower we are to promise, the more faithfully will our promises be kept.”

You may be sure that the more difficulty he finds in getting your promise, the easier you will find it to carry it out.  The young man must learn that he is promising a great deal, and that you are promising still more.  When the time is come, when he has, so to say, signed the contract, then change your tone, and make your rule as gentle as you said it would be severe.  Say to him, “My young friend, it is experience that you lack; but I have taken care that you do not lack reason.  You are ready to see the motives of my conduct in every respect; to do this you need only wait till you are free from excitement.  Always obey me first, and then ask the reasons for my commands; I am always ready to give my reasons so soon as you are ready to listen to them, and I shall never be afraid to make you the judge between us.  You promise to follow my teaching, and I promise only to use your obedience to make you the happiest of men.  For proof of this I have the life you have lived hitherto.  Show me any one of your age who has led as happy a life as yours, and I promise you nothing more.”